Manchester United will have to act fast to see off the interest of the Spanish duo of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the bid to sign Fabian Ruiz from Napoli.

According to Fox Sports Asia, Manchester United are keen to do a deal for Spanish international Fabian Ruiz this month as they try to ease their midfield worries before the business end of the current season.

Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay are long-term injury absentees for Manchester United and that has forced the club into the transfer market.

• Everton Eyeing Summer Move For Fabian Schar(Opens in a new browser tab)
• How Man Utd’s Front Three Have Scored More Goals Than Liverpool’s Attacking Trio Revealed(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Chelsea Signing This Defender Would Be A Great Move By Frank Lampard

Both Pogba and McTominay are not ready to return to the Manchester United squad until next month at least.

Pogba has been struggling with an ankle problem all season, while Scotland international Scott McTominay has a knee injury.

Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz has been a key performer for underperforming Italian Serie A outfit since joining from La Liga club Real Betis at the start of the last campaign for £30m.

His quality has led to the interest of both Barcelona and Real Madrid who are keeping tabs on his career in Italy.

Fabian Ruiz is on course to be a part of the Spain squad to the 2020 European Championships later this year.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has approved the multi-million pounds pursuit of Borussia Dortmund player Jadon Sancho according to The Metro.

Recent reports had claimed that Chelsea are in talks to sign Jadon Sancho who is an England international who made his debut for the Three Lions against Croatia towards the end of 2018 in what was a UEFA Nations League game.

Apart from Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are also interested in Jadon Sancho who could cost up to £120m.

Chelsea have a good business relationship with Borussia Dortmund and that could work in their favour as they try to prise Jadon Sancho from the German Bundesliga club.

• Fenerbahce Eyeing January Transfer For Chelsea Star(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Manchester United Ready To Table Offer For £80,000-a-week Playmaker(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Why Eden Hazard Wants Kylian Mbappe At Real Madrid Revealed

Jadon Sancho has scored nine goals and nine assists in 15 games in the league to further show his importance to Borussia Dortmund who sold Christian Pulisic to Chelsea in a £57m deal last year.

Chelsea had agreed a deal with the Germans for Christian Pulisic in January 2019 but the American international didn’t join them until last summer.

The same transfer strategy could be applied by Chelsea as they try to sign 19-year-old Sancho who is seen as the man to replace Eden Hazard at the club.

Hazard left Chelsea for Real Madrid at the start of this campaign.

The Premier League trio of Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea have been given a big transfer boost in their pursuit of Lyon striker Moussa Dembele.

According to French publication L’Equipe, Lyon have agreed a deal to sign a striker from the Spanish La Liga and this new development has given the aforementioned British clubs small hope in their quest to sign Dembele.

Lyon have already released a statement to shut down recent transfer rumours that Moussa Dembele will leave the club this month.

The statement was before Lyon agreed a loan deal to sign Karl Toko Ekambi on loan with the obligation to sign him permanently in a £17m deal.

• Nathaniel Phillips Back 17 days After Recall(Opens in a new browser tab)
• PSG accept Barcelona fee for Neymar(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Bruno Fernandes Transfer ‘Held Up’ As Sporting Lisbon Make Big Demand

The Karl Toko Ekambi transfer could be to complement Moussa Dembele in the Lyon attack rather than replace the French striker especially with star player Memphis Depay still out with a long-term injury.

Depay has been injured since the end of last year and the Netherlands is not expected to return to full fitness anytime soon.

Moussa Dembele has been the go-to man for Lyon this season especially in the absence of the injury-stricken Depay.

He is the topscorer in the French top flight with 11 goals this season.

Brighton and Hove Albion manager Graham Potter has given a transfer update on his skipper Lewis Dunk who has been linked with Chelsea this month.

The center-back position is one of the let areas targeted by Chelsea for reinforcement and Brighton captain Lewis Dunk is a major transfer target for them.

Chelsea are active in the transfer window after their embargo was lifted by CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sports).

The Blues were slapped with a two-window transfer ban by FIFA for violating the rules of signing players under the age of 18.

• Manchester United Can Finally Sign Long-term Transfer Target(Opens in a new browser tab)
• How Manchester United Will Line-up After They Signed This Player(Opens in a new browser tab)
• EPL: Liverpool Handed Major Injury Blow Ahead Of Brighton Match

Chelsea had an appeal rejected by FIFA before they took the case to CAS who delivered a ruling on the matter at the start of last month.

The Blues had the transfer ban halved by CAS and that freed them up for transfers this month having served the first transfer window ban last summer.

Chelsea fans are restless with the lack of transfer activity despite the lifting of the aforementioned transfer embargo.

On transfer target Lewis Dunk, Brighton boss Graham Potter is relaxed amidst the links with Chelsea.

According to him, the 28-year-old defender has a long-term contract at the Amex Stadium and that the player is very important to his team.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has disclosed that no club wanted to sign the defensive duo of Andy Robertson and Joel Matip when the club swooped in to sign them.

Klopp told BeIN Sports that clubs were not willing to sign Andy Robertson in 2017 when Hull City suffered relegation from the Premier League.

Andy Robertson was not renowned for his defensive work as a left-back while he was an Hull City player but the 25-year-old has improved in that aspect at Liverpool who paid just £8m to sign him.

• Probable Liverpool XI vs Sheffield United(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Chelsea Backed To Sign £50m-rated Defensive Transfer(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Man Utd Top Target Harry Maguire Informs Teammates About Transfer Decision

Jurgen Klopp also talked about Joel Matip and how Liverpool had a free run to sign him from Schalke 04 in the German league on a free transfer in 2016.

Joel Matip was in fine form for Liverpool at the start of the season before his knee injury.

The Cameroonian international has not played for Liverpool since the Manchester United game at Old Trafford in October.

He formed a potent center-back partnership with Virgil Van Dijk at the heart of the Liverpool defence at the start of the season before his injury.

Matip has returned to training in time for the return leg of the Manchester United game billed for Anfield this weekend.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has stoked the fire ahead of the Premier League trip to arch-rivals Liverpool in one of the games of the season.

Solskjaer ignited the fury of Liverpool fans after he said that Manchester United won’t go without a league title for three decades like what’s obtainable with the Reds at the moment.

The Manchester United manager ripped into Liverpool during his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the league meeting between the two traditional English teams this weekend.

• Why United’s Move For Top Striker Might Fall Through In January(Opens in a new browser tab)
• ‘Waste Of Money’ – Chelsea Fans Unimpressed With Possible £47m Signing(Opens in a new browser tab)
• La Liga: Atletico Madrid Open Gap On Title Rivals

Liverpool have not won the league title for 30 years with the last one coming during the 1989/90 season.

The Premier League era began during the 1992/93 season and Liverpool are yet to lay their hands on the trophy since then.

Liverpool have a perfect opportunity to end that long title drought as they have a 14-point advantage at the top of that league table and they have played a game more than their closest rivals Manchester City who are the reigning champions.

Manchester United are the only team to take points off arch-rivals Liverpool in the Premier League this season and they can put spanner in the works of their title challenge when they visit Anfield on Sunday.

Atletico Madrid winger Thomas Lemar has made a decision on his future in the Spanish league finally according to the newest reports coming out of his native France.

Thomas Lemar has struggled for form at Atletico Madrid since he joined the Spanish La Liga giants at the start of the 2018/19 season and that led to the transfer rumours of him moving away from the Spaniards with the likes of Arsenal, Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur interested in him.

Recent reports even talked about the possibility of a swap deal involving Thomas Lemar and Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette.

• Finally, Jadon Sancho To Chelsea Transfer Decision Made, Details Of Talks Revealed(Opens in a new browser tab)
• EPL: What Will Happen To Unai Emery After Another Poor Arsenal Performance(Opens in a new browser tab)
• EPL: How Wilfried Zaha Will Join Chelsea In January Ahead Of Man Utd Revealed

French international Lacazette came close to signing for Atletico Madrid before his move to Arsenal from Lyon and he would have signed for the Rojiblancos if not for the FIFA transfer ban imposed on them in the summer of 2017.

It was not really surprising that Lacazette was linked with an Atletico Madrid transfer again in a swap deal that will see Lemar join the Gunners but that won’t be possible after the former AS Monaco man made a decision on his future at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.

According to Le10Sport from France, Thomas Lemar has decided to stay at Atletico Madrid who paid £51m to sign him from AS Monaco in 2018.

According to The Sun, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has told defender Shkodran Mustafi that he won’t stand in his way if the German wants to leave the Gunners in this window.

Mustafi earns £90,000 per week at Arsenal and he has just 18 months left on his contract.

The Arsenal centre back is reportedly willing to leave the club this month in search of regular football and Mikel Arteta has given his blessing for him to move away from the North London outfit.

Mikel Arteta has made his position known on a potential Mustafi exit despite the lack of centre back options at his disposal mainly due to injuries and loan deals.

• EPL – Mustafi Set To Leave Arsenal On Loan For New Club(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Arsenal In Talks To Sign Gremio Centre Back Walter Kannemann(Opens in a new browser tab)
• Arsenal Boss Reiterates Support For Underfire Mustafi

Apart from Mustafi, Arsenal have just three centre back options namely Sokratis Papasthathopoulos, David Luiz and Rob Holding.

Calum Chambers has been the best centre back at Arsenal this season but the England international won’t play again until next season after his knee surgery last month.

He sustained the injury during the home game against Chelsea in December 2019.

Another centre back options Kostantinos Mavropanos has joined Nurnberg in the German Bundesliga II on loan for the rest of this campaign.

Turkish giants Galatasaray are the obvious transfer options for Mustafi in his quest to leave Arsenal.